Every answer below is Dr Essop’s own, straight from the chair. Where the honest answer is “it depends”, we say what it depends on.
Most treatments run 12 to 24 months, and realistically most land between 18 and 24. Some finish under a year; complex cases can pass two years, and when they do it is because the specialist is not yet satisfied with the result, never to stretch the visits out.
There is mild discomfort when braces first go on and for a day or two after adjustments. It is temporary, manageable and does not require time off school or work. The first few days are the worst of it, and then braces become background.
Every four to six weeks, more often six. At certain stages we may ask for four-weekly visits. With so few visits, most families settle into the rhythm quickly.
It depends on your case, your age, your lifestyle and your occupation. Aligners suit some cases beautifully and fail others; braces remain the stronger all-round tool. Dr Essop assesses first, then recommends, including telling you when the cheaper or less fashionable option is the better one. The full honest comparison is on the clear aligners page.
Braces generally do not. Aligners can cause a slight lisp for the first days until the tongue adapts, after which it disappears.
Yes, with early caution around hard, sticky and chewy foods, which can break brackets. Most patients quickly develop their own way of eating almost everything they always ate.
Yes to both. For contact sport, custom mouthguards made to fit over braces are available through the practice. Musicians adapt within days.
Good brushing, flossing and your regular dental check-ups, which continue with your own dentist throughout treatment. We provide instructional videos to make the technique easy to follow.
Around age seven, per the American Association of Orthodontists, even when nothing looks wrong. Some problems, underbites, impacted canines, crossbites, are far easier corrected early. Most children need nothing at that visit beyond reassurance and a baseline. The age 7 check, in full.
No. Healthy teeth can be moved at almost any age, and around a third of this practice’s patients are adults. Adult orthodontics.
No, and in some cases waiting is the mistake. Canine impactions and developing underbites need early attention, and a Class II growth pattern should be assessed well before age 16, earlier in girls. When in doubt, check at seven.
Honest ranges, published openly: a specialist consultation is R680, and full records with diagnosis and treatment planning is R4 240. Early interceptive treatment for children starts from around R5 000. Comprehensive braces, for children, teenagers and adults alike, range from R37 000 to R60 000, and clear aligners from R35 000 to R80 000 depending on complexity. You receive a firm written quote after diagnosis, and the number you leave with is the number. Full fees, medical aid and payment plans.
We work with most major schemes, Discovery above all, along with Momentum, BestMed and others. We claim your consultation and records directly, then prepare a complete medical aid ready report, quote, photographs, x-rays and a traced cephalometric radiograph, formatted for quick scheme approval.
Yes, interest free: 30% of the treatment fee to begin, the balance over 12 to 20 months. Where cost is a genuine barrier for a child who needs treatment, ask us; there are always options worth discussing.
Dr Essop’s honest answer: in most cases it is not life and death, and he does not sell treatment. But crowded teeth are harder to clean, which invites decay and gum disease; poor bites can impair eating and speech; and over the years a bad bite wears teeth down faster. The point of an assessment is finding out which kind of case yours is.
Not everyone, and fewer here than you may fear. This is a conservative practice: extractions are only recommended where avoiding them would harm the result. The philosophy, and the case that set it, is on the specialist page.
Yes, every patient, and retention is for life, though the hours of wear decrease over time. Retention is not an optional extra after treatment; it is a phase of treatment, and it is what keeps the result you paid for.
Teeth have a memory and a lifetime tendency to drift, which is precisely why retainers exist and why we consider retention part of the treatment itself. Wear the retainer as prescribed and your result holds.
We know these get typed into Google at midnight rather than asked out loud, so here they are, answered in daylight.
That is what the published ranges, the medical aid report and the interest-free plan are for: so you can do the arithmetic at your own kitchen table before anyone asks you for a decision. And if the honest answer is “not comfortably”, say so; where a child genuinely needs treatment there is usually a workable structure.
In our experience, the anxiety outlives the reality by about two weeks. A third of our patients are adults. Your colleagues will notice, ask once, and move on to their own lives.
For a mild cosmetic quibble, maybe not, and Dr Essop will tell you so. For crowding, bite and function problems, you are buying decades of easier cleaning, slower wear and a smile you stop hiding. The consultation exists so the answer can be about your mouth, not a brochure’s.
Life happens across 18 to 24 months. Missed visits slow treatment rather than ruin it; tell us, rebook, carry on.
False. A third of this practice is adult, and the results are just as good.
Temporary soreness after fitting and adjustments, a few difficult days at the start, then braces become part of you. “Extremely painful” is a memory from another era of orthodontics.
Aligners are excellent for many cases and wrong for others: complex bites, extraction cases and certain movements need braces. Anyone who says otherwise is selling the tool, not the outcome.
Aligned teeth clean easier, function better and wear slower. The photograph is the bonus.
It varies case by case: under a year for some, past two for the complex few, and always for the sake of the result.
Retention is a phase of treatment, and it is lifelong. Skipping it is how results are lost.
They do not. Fly in peace.
Sometimes the costliest myth of all: underbites and impacted canines reward early action. Check at seven.
WhatsApp it to us and a human will answer it, usually the same day.